This Week in Auburn History: August 24-30

The Dye is Cast: Pat Dye in his first game as Auburn’s coach. [Birmingham News photo.]8/31/1991: Auburn, down 17-3 at halftime to defending I-AA champion Georgia Southern, storms back in the 2nd half to win 32-17.

8/31/2000: Tiger (War Eagle VI) makes her first free flight from the goalpost prior to the season opener vs. Wyoming.

9/1/2001: Auburn holds Ball State to only 92 yards of offense, wins 30-0. It was the first game for Jason Campbell, Ronnie Brown, Cadillac Williams and Carlos Rogers.

9/2/1993: Auburn wins 16-12 in Terry Bowden’s debut as head coach. James Bostic rushes for 138 yards and a touchdown, Scott Etheridge connects on three field goals.

9/2/1986: Bo Jackson makes his MLB debut with the Kansas City Royals, singles in his first at-bat against Steve Carlton.

9/3/1994: Auburn, back on TV since ’92, opens the season in Oxford with a 22-17 win over Ole Miss. The Tigers have won 12 straight games

9/3/2011: Auburn escapes Utah State with two TDs and an onsides kick recovery in the last two minutes of the game to win 42-38.

War Eagle V: “No fowl play suspected.”

9/4/1986: War Eagle V, Auburn’s mascot since ’81, died early Thursday morning after becoming ill the previous night

9/5/1981: In Pat Dye’s 1st game as Auburn’s head coach the Tigers defeat TCU 24-16 before an estimated crowd of 48,000.

9/5/1987: In Auburn’s 1st game with the addition of the new East-side upper deck, the Tigers defeat Texas 31-3 before the largest crowd to see a football game in the state of Alabama.

9/6/1972: As Auburn prepares for football without Pat Sullivan & Terry Beasley, AU President Harry Philpott has a message for those who have written-off the Tigers this year: “Don’t bury Auburn yet. We aren’t dead.”

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I was at that Georgia Southern game. First, and only, game I’ve ever pulled against Auburn. I was a 9 year old who had grown up attending Georgia Southern football games every Saturday in the fall. I think if the core of the 1989-90 National Championship teams had been around (and coached by Erk rather than Tim Stowers), GSU could have won that game. It should have been 24-0 GSU at the half, but our DB dropped a CLEAR pick-6, and Auburn kicked the FG to make it 17-3 before time ran out.

I’ve maintained since then that I would always pull for Auburn because it would be worse for Auburn to lose than it would mean for Georgia Southern to win it while GSU was still FCS. With the transition being made, I just hope my two teams never play each other again.